Each Animus exhibition or event will likely embody a shifting selection of artists.

Though expressions range from the playfulto the profound and scales encompass the vast to the humble, all in their unique way are a re-consecration of art for the purpose of the re-enchantment of the world

Because of this, the artwork is imbuedwith this essence, and has the potential to reconnect you to what is whole (holy), both in visible outer form and invisible inner truth…ultimately dissolving the illusory sense of separation between the two.

In the words of Hafiz,The small manBuilds cages for everyoneHe knows.While the sage,Who has to duck his headWhen the moon is low,Keeps dropping keys all night longFor theBeautifulRowdyPrisoners.

May you find a key hereto the gateless gate.

Alexander Tsalikhin

Alexander, a Russian artist now living in New Jersey, uses traditional sculptural forms harmoniously interposed with modern elements, creating an unexpected union of materials such as bronze and glass.

He often depicts people absorbed in a deeply meditative, contemplative state, with the intent of embodying that essence in the sculptural form.

Working intuitively with no pre-conceived plans, he embraces the unexpected developments this brings as the sculpture begins to take on a life of its own.

For him, this creative process is a part of his quest for self- knowledge.

Ben lives on the site of a Roman fort at the Western end of Hadrians Wall. It’s a beautiful, wild and windy place between the Solway Estuary and thousands of acres of peat moss filled with wildlife; barnacle geese, roe deer, curlews and adders.

Here Ben senses the timeless open quality of just being ~ a quality which also relates to the pots he makes. The evolving dialogue between clay, slip and himself is at the same time a poetic reinterpretation of many of the qualities found in traditional pot making.

Although he has respect for and draws inspiration from the English slipware tradition, his slipware is decorated as a spontaneous expression of playful joy.

Though Bill’s recent pieces have been intimately sized ~ mantras carved on obsidian stones, gold-leafed mono-prints taken from the inside of bark ~ he’s also worked on such a monumental scale that there are still firm believers that his 1990 Oregon Lake Bed Sri Yantra, (above, photographed from 9000 feet), was the work of extra-terrestrials.

It had not been constructed by him as a hoax to try to trick people, though, but as a holy offering.

This offering was clearly graciously received by the earth, as attested to by subsequent profound changes, both subtle and dramatic.

This and other earthworks “…functioned as a device or space where we would not only experience Nature more deeply but also where Nature would speak out, where we might come to better understand the language of Nature.”

Though Cathy also writes idiosyncratic tales to accompany her work, her intricate and muted paintings often don’t belong to a particular tale, but become a portal for the viewer, transporting them into an enchanted world.

She’s always been fascinated by what she calls the 'realm of story' and believes that“art belongs to that realm. It feels to me as though it is a method of transportation by entrancement and each journey we take has the capacity to enrich us.”

Fergus’s idiosyncratic, naïve style paintings became indelibly imprinted on the collective unconscious back in the 1970’s, when he created a tarot deck for ‘Live and Let Die’ which, many editions later, is still in print.

Album covers for ‘King Crimson’, an award-winning children’s book and numerous one-man shows in London’s Portal Gallery followed, after which Fergus became disillusioned with the commercial art world and retreated back to his native Scotland.

Following decades of seclusion in the Eskdalemuir hills, Fergus is painting in a looser way and re-discovering his soul’s path through his art, deeply grounded as it is in the spiritual dimension of life.

Douglas Fitch and Hannah McAndrew are renowned slipware potters who also happen to be husband and wife.

Working in wood-fired earthenware clay, their works are simply decorated, with appliqué decoration or sgrafitto, using a basic palette of traditional slips, made from natural raw materials.

Above are a trio of large jugs by Doug, their influence drawn from the work of the medieval potters of England and the subsequent tradition of slip decorated country pottery that was prevalent in this country until the early twentieth century.

Below is one of Hannah's pieces; her website is here. you can also find them both together here

Jennie Ashmore

Jennie’s ‘leafworks’, originally inspired by Amish patchwork quilts, are made entirely from nature itself.

Leaves and flowers are collected from both wild lands and gardens around her Scottish home, then melded together to create a subtle yet vibrant synthesis of colours, patterns and textures intimately rooted in the land.

Julie is a poet. For her, ‘the concept of “The World’s Soul” is the way energy inhabits the land, becoming apparent in its creation of an environment and its movement within it. This movement includes a shaping of everything within a specific place and time.

As living entities, we must look to the symbiotic relationship we make with our own environment in order to understand the place we occupy within the world’s soul.

In doing so, we have the potential to find a deepening awareness of the whole.’

Kay Ribbens

Kay makes unique wearable art in the form of hats.Her closeness to nature in her rural Dumfries & Galloway studio by the river Bladnoch, especially the continuously changing colours, deeply influences her work.

Colour is very important in each new piece, along with texture, flexibility of fibre, function, wearability and overall design.

Morag and Lewis play a rich repertoire of music from a wide variety of folk traditions. On fiddle and cittern or accordion, they are at home performing traditional Scottish, English and Irish music, as well as music from across Europe, the Balkans and Greece.

They take inspiration from traditional archive sources, from the musicians they meet and the places to which they travel. When playing together, their shared intuition and love of spontaneity allows them to freely move between melody, harmony and improvisation.

Phil Crennell is a highly skilled Artisan whose work reveals the invisible spirit of nature. He’s sought after in the field of Live Edge Furniture, which he makes to provide enjoyment, enchantment and soulful well being

All of his rustic, natural forms are made from hardwoods sourced in Scotland; Oak, Elm, Yew, Sycamore and Ash, and occasionally Apple, Cherry, Laburnum and Beech.

Phil finds these woods to be a reflection of his ethos and way of life. By its very nature each piece of wood ~ with its waney edge, rippled grain, knots, burrs and spalting stunningly and permanently etched into its surface ~ is unique in its form.

From a Greenwood workshop tucked intothe coniferous skirts of Auchenlosh Woodland in Dumfries and Galloway, Phil ~ along with all sorts of invited ethereal inhabitants ~ becomes happily lost in the creative process within the tranquillity of his surroundings.